Star Trek: First Contact
:"Resistance is Futile." The Borg begin a new invasion of the Federation, but this time they take the battle to the year 2063: the launch of Earth’s first warp ship and First Contact with extraterrestrials. Summary The movie opens with Captain Jean-Luc Picard dreaming that he is on board a Borg cube undergoing his transformation into Locutus of Borg – he wakes up with a shock and goes to wash his face, only to see horrible Borg implants coming out from his face. He wakes up again, now to reality, only to hear that the Borg have returned and they are heading towards Earth. Picard wishes to go to help, but the newly-commissioned [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)|USS Enterprise-E]] is sent to patrol the Neutral Zone in case the Romulans decide to make a move against the Federation while the Federation's fleet resources are diverted against the Borg. Starfleet thinks that Picard could be an "unstable element" in the fight against the Borg. As all attempts to stop the Borg fail before they reach Earth, Picard decides to ignore his direct orders from Starfleet and sets course to Earth. They arrive in Sector 001 just in time to witness the battle against the attacking Borg cube, which is being fought by several Starfleet ships of various types. Among the attacking vessels is the [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|USS Defiant]], commanded by Worf. The small ship has suffered heavy damage and Worf is just about to ram the cube when the Enterprise comes to save them. The crew is beamed aboard the Enterprise and the Defiant is set adrift in space, although it is later salvaged. As the battle is going badly, Picard uses his intimate knowledge of the Borg to concentrate fire on a certain point at the Borg cube's surface. Combined phaser and torpedo fire from all remaining ships destroys the cube, but just before it explodes the cube manages to eject a sphere. The smaller Borg vessel heads towards Earth and opens an energy rift – a temporal vortex. Enterprise pursues, only to be caught in the vortex's wake. Suddenly the Earth beneath them changes – the Borg have altered Earth's past, resulting at the planet being completely assimilated in the 24th century, with a population of 9 billion Borg drones and a poisonous atmosphere. Picard decides to follow the sphere to the past in order to repair the temporal damage. :Writer Ronald D. Moore commented: It was a conscious decision to plunge into action immediately and set a different tone from the previous movies. The character lead-ins were nice and I always liked them, but we wanted FC to be a departure for the film series and we wanted to make that statement from the opening shot." http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6952/ron17.txt The story cuts down to the Earth's surface in a shack village where Lily Sloane drags the drunken Zefram Cochrane out from a bar. They spot the Borg sphere moving in the sky, and as the vessel fires, they believe that it is some sort of an orbital weapons platform left over from World War III. Lily goes to check on the experimental warp ship Phoenix they've been constructing, but Cochrane seems to no longer care. The Enterprise arrives in the past and Data deduces that they arrived some ten years after World War III. Riker thinks that it was a logical choice, as the Earth was in ruins after the (presumably nuclear) war. The Borg sphere is destroyed with quantum torpedoes. Riker identifies the sphere's target as a missile silo, and Picard realizes the Borg's agenda – they have prevented the Earth's first warp flight and resulting contact with the Vulcans. Data tells that it is April the fourth, one day before the First Contact. Picard decides to beam down to check the warp ship, accompanied by Beverly Crusher, Data and assorted officers. They find the missile complex in shambles with most of the staff dead. Picard and Data locate the warp ship, damaged but repairable. Lily Sloane attacks them with a sub-machine gun, only to be subdued by the bullet-proof Data. Lily collapses from shock and exposure to theta radiation. They all need inoculations against radiation. Crusher beams onboard the Enterprise with the unconscious Lily. Picard orders Geordi La Forge down to the planet. La Forge departs with Reginald Barclay and assorted officers, leaving engineer Paul Porter in charge. He wants Porter to check the environmental controls, as the room temperature is rising. Down on Earth, Picard gets very nostalgic with the Phoenix, a thing which Data can't understand, despite trying. Troi is amused by Data's attempt and informs that they have been unable to find Cochrane. Back on board the Enterprise, the engineers try to locate the reason for the sudden change in the room temperature. Engineer Porter disappears into the Jefferies tube, along with the female engineer who goes to search for him. Something is definitely wrong onboard the Enterprise, a fact also sensed by Picard down in Earth. He immediately contacts the Enterprise and after Worf’s explanation about the environmental conditions, he decides to return to the Enterprise. In sickbay, Beverly has just finished treating Lily along with Nurse Ogawa when the power suddenly goes off. Her attempt to contact engineering is cut abruptly when someone begins to pummel the sickbay door from the outside. Up on the bridge, Worf explains to Captain Picard that all contact with Deck 16 has been lost. Picard orders the entire deck sealed down. Picard soon realizes that the Borg have beamed on board and started to assimilate the ship. Suddenly external communications and all command systems fail. Data encrypts the ship's computer so that the Borg can't access it. In sickbay, Crusher is evacuating the personnel, along with a bewildered Lily. She brings up the Emergency Medical Hologram in order to distract the incoming Borg as the crew escapes via the Jeffries tube. The hologram begins to lecture to the incoming drones. As Beverly leads her staff to safety, Lily escapes. Picard assembles security and other available personnel to (presumably) the ship's armory and gives them details on their attempt to re-take engineering from the Borg and expose them to the warp core's coolant, dissolving their organic parts. They all arm themselves with phaser rifles, although the Borg will adapt quickly despite varying modulation. Picard orders his troops not to hesitate if attacked by former Enterprise crewmembers already assimilated – in shooting them they would be doing them a favor. They depart to battle. Down on Earth, Troi has finally located Cochrane dancing around in a bar. Riker shows up to discover Troi is highly intoxicated, much to his amusement. Troi introduces the two men and tells Riker that they probably have to reveal the truth to Cochrane. Troi passes out. Back on board the orbiting Enterprise, Picard’s assault team advances thru the dark ship towards the already assimilated areas. They enter though a floor hatch to the dangerous Deck 16 and begin their search. They find the corridors already partially assimilated. Even Data is afraid, and, at Picard's suggestion, he deactivates his emotions chip. The assault team led by Worf runs into Beverly who tells him that Lily is missing. On another part of the deck, Picard’s team encounters their first Borg drones. On their approach to engineering they find Borg alcoves and more and more drones around. They attempt to enter main engineering, but the drones attack and a phaser fight results, with the Borg taking heavy hits until they adapt. Several crewmembers are assimilated in the desperate hand-to-hand fighting. Data is captured by the Borg and Picard orders general retreat to Deck 15. During his escape, Picard is attacked by Lily, who takes control of his hand phaser. Down in the gloomy main engineering, Data is being inspected by a group of Borg drones. The disembodied voice of the Borg Queen speaks to him, mocking his imperfection. Cochrane has a hard time believing what the Enterprise crew has to say about the Borg and Cochrane's role in history. La Forge and Riker decide to prove their origin by showing the orbiting Enterprise on an optical telescope. The crew tries to talk Cochrane into making the warp flight, as he is not that thrilled about it. He finally agrees. On board the Enterprise, it is a losing battle against the Borg. More and more crew become assimilated and receive full cybernetic implants. One half of the ship is already under Borg control as they halt on Deck 11. We cut to Picard and Lily who still believes that Picard is a member of a former enemy faction. Picard shocks her once again by showing her the Earth from space. They finally "make peace" and she hands over the phaser, already set to full intensity. It was her first "ray gun". The Borg Queen descends to the engineering and connects with her mechanical body. She circles Data, apparently very intrigued by the android. She gives him unique sensations by activating his emotion chip. It is revealed that the Borg have attached a piece of human skin to Data's body. He gives an almost orgasmic response when the Borg Queen blows on the piece of skin, causing goose bumps. She dryly remarks: "Was it good for you?" Picard tells Lily about the Federation as they move around the ship. Lily panics after seeing the Borg, but Picard reassures her. He provokes the drones to follow them to the holodeck. They enter the holodeck and a Dixon Hill holonovel. Picard locates a sub-machine gun from a Mafia thug and strafes the Borg drones – he had disengaged the security protocols when they entered. He searches for a drone's neuroprocessor in order to find out what they are planning to do. :As an interesting note, Picard uses the holodeck control arch to provide them with suitable clothing for the simulation, something we haven't seen before. Down on Earth, the Starfleet crew is busy repairing the warp ship. Cochrane is getting increasingly drunk and unsure about the whole flight. Barclay gets an unique chance to meet with his idol and La Forge reveals that in the future there will be a huge statue of Cochrane, and he himself went to Zefram Cochrane High School. Cochrane excuses himself and runs away. Picard and Lily reach the bridge. Picard tells Worf that the Borg are building an interplexing beacon from the ship's main deflector, which they are planning to use to contact the 21st century Borg still living in the Delta Quadrant. Picard decides to do an EVA with Worf and Lt. Hawk in order to destroy the transmitter. Down on Earth, La Forge and Riker try to track the escaping Cochrane. Picard, Worf and Lt. Hawk make their way on the ship's hull. In the Borg lair, the drones are attaching more Human skin to Data's arm. Data's babbling irritates even the Borg Queen, who keeps tempting Data with the opportunity to become more Human. Data gets free from his bindings and proceeds to kill several Borg drones before the new skin on his arms gets hurt. The Queen bids him to tear the skin away, but Data is unable to do so. The Queen proceeds to question Data about his sexual experiences and after Data's bragging about his "multiple techniques", the Queen kisses him. The EVA team reaches the deflector dish and find it swarming with drones building the beacon. Lt. Hawk suggests that they phaser the entire beacon but Picard disagrees, as the resulting explosion could destroy the ship. Down on Earth, the Starfleet people catch Cochrane. Riker stuns him as he tries to flee again. Up on the Enterprise, Picard and crew proceed to disengage the maglocks keeping the deflector's particle emitter in place. As they work on the AE-35 units, the Borg drones begin to take interest in them. Lt. Hawk is attacked by the drones and he has to shoot one with his phaser. Now Worf is attacked, but his weapon is already ineffective against the drones. The situation heats up and Worf is forced to fight a drone with his mek'leth, slicing the drone. Worf’s space suit is badly damaged and begins to lose air. Meanwhile, Lt. Hawk works on the control and doesn't see the drones approaching. He is carried away, leaving Picard alone. A drone menacingly approaches Picard who backs away to the edge of the dish and disengages his magnetic boots, hovering across the dish. As he releases the final maglock the central part of the deflector sets free. He is then attacked by an already assimilated Hawk, only to be rescued by Worf, who has repaired his suit with a piece of a Borg drone. Picard shoots at the thick cable holding the dish in place, enabling it to fly away. Worf disintegrates it with an angry, "Assimilate THIS!" On Earth, Cochrane is preparing his ship for launch. The missile silo is opened and Riker marvels at the Moon visible through the ship's windshield. He talks about Cochrane's wonderful vision, and Cochrane admits that his vision was dollar signs – he only wanted money so that he could retire to a tropical island filled with naked women. He doesn’t even like to fly! Riker quotes future Cochrane, much to his own amusement. On the Enterprise, the situation is even worse. Decks 5 and 6 have just fallen and the weapons are completely ineffective, but Picard orders everyone to stand their ground. Worf suggests using the auto-destruct, supported by Crusher, but Picard declines. Picard insults Worf in the worst way possible for a Klingon by saying that he’s a coward – Worf answers that he would kill Picard were he not Captain. Picard throws Worf off the bridge and goes to brood in the observation lounge. Lily argues with Crusher, who is left in command and enters the observation lounge to talk some sense into Picard. He has become obsessed with destroying the Borg and delivers a long monologue to Lily about his experience with being assimilated to the Collective. Picard's feelings heat up when Lily claims that he enjoys killing the Borg and compares him to Captain Ahab of Moby Dick. As Lily tells him to blow up the ship, Picard angrily hurls a phaser at the room's Enterprise display cabinet, smashing the models of the Enterprise-C and Enterprise-D. The broken model of Picard's former ship obviously strikes a chord with him, and he vows payback for the Borg. After further pressure from Lily, he comes to his senses and begins to recite Moby Dick. Lily doesn't know it is from the book because she never read it. Picard comes to a decision and enters the bridge again, only to order evacuation of the ship. Back to Earth, where final preparations for the Phoenix's launch continue. The vessel is manned by Cochrane, Riker and La Forge. On board the Enterprise, Picard, Crusher and Worf initiate the self-destruct on a 15-minute silent countdown. Crusher says farewell to the ship and wonders whether there will be another ship. Picard comments that there are still many letters left in the alphabet. He then apologizes to Worf and says that in fact he is the bravest man he has ever known. Worf exits, leaving Picard alone on the empty bridge of the Enterprise. Suddenly, he hears Data's voice inside his head. Down on Earth, Troi acts as an announcer for the flight preparations. Cochrane thinks that he has forgotten something, but he can't remember and says that it is probably nothing. He suddenly realizes what it was and Riker almost cancels the launch until it is realized that the missing thing was a recording of the song "Magic Carpet Ride", which plays on as the missile-built-into-warp-ship takes off from the silo. Cochrane deals with a problem by hitting the display console and they separate the booster stage of the rocket. The warp engines are deployed and the systems prepared for Earth's first warp flight. Cochrane is thrilled to see Earth from space. Up on the Enterprise, the evacuation continues. Picard says farewell to Lily who understands that he is not coming with them; Picard tells that he must help a friend in need. The escape pods are ejected and they head towards Earth. Picard goes down to main engineering and he is able to enter unharmed. The Borg Queen makes an entrance and mocks Picard. Data also appears, having received human skin to one half of his face. Picard tries to make an exchange of himself for Data, confronting the Queen by claiming that he was supposed to be the Queen's counterpart in the Collective. Picard tells Data to leave, but he refuses. Under orders from the Queen, Data deactivates the self-destruct at android speed. He also decrypts the computer core, giving full control to the Queen. Picard is seized by drones. On board the Phoenix, everything is looking good for the warp flight. Cochrane engages the engines and the ship accelerates rapidly. Cochrane suddenly spots the Enterprise approaching. The ship fires quantum torpedoes at the Phoenix, but they miss the small warp ship. The Queen realizes that Data isn't really under her control. Data breaks the warp core coolant tank, releasing coolant gas into the room. Picard climbs up a tube to save himself. The Queen grabs his leg and tries to pull Picard down, but Data grabs her and pulls her into the coolant before it is too late. The Queen’s body disintegrates, along with the other drones. Meanwhile, the Phoenix's warp flight ends successfully. Back on the Enterprise, Picard vents the gas and sees dead Borg drones everywhere. He finds the skeletal cybernetic remains of the Queen, still twitching. He breaks the apparently mechanical spine, killing the Queen. He also finds Data, who had parts of his inner structure revealed after his Human skin was destroyed. They discuss the nature of the Borg Queen and Data confesses that he was tempted to accept the Queen's offer, albeit for less than a second. We cut some time forward down on Earth, where the Vulcan ship lands nearby the launch site of the Phoenix. Cochrane makes historical first contact and the Enterprise crew departs after witnessing the event. They proceed to return to the future with Picard’s "Make it so" command. The ship's departure is seen on Earth by Lily. At the same time, Cochrane introduces the Vulcans to Earth rock music. The camera pans up to the night sky as the signature tune plays on… Memorable Quotes "So, you're all... astronauts, on... some kind of star trek?" : - Zefram Cochrane, to Riker, Troi, and La Forge "Captain, I believe I speak for everyone when I say, 'To hell with our orders'." : - Data "Tough little ship." "Little?" : - Riker and Worf, speaking about the Defiant "Tell your men to stand their ground. Fight hand to hand if they have to." : - Picard, to Daniels "Timeline?'' This is no time to be arguing about time! We don't have the time!....What was I saying?" : - '''Troi', to Riker, while intoxicated "I'm just trying to blend in." "You're blended, all right." : - Troi and Riker, about Troi's intoxication. "If you want my ''professional opinion, as ship's counselor... he's nuts!" : - '''Troi', about Zephram Cochrane "Assimilate this!" : - Worf, before blowing up the interplexing beacon floating off the Enterprise's deflector dish "Jean-Luc, blow up the damned ship!" "No! Nooooo!" (smashes glass and model ships with his phaser rifle) "I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" (a brief silence) "You broke your little ships." : - Lily Sloane and Picard "Borg? Sounds Swedish..." : - Lily Sloane, to Picard "Definitely not Swedish!" : - Lily Sloane, after she saw Borg drones "Main power is off-line, we've lost shields and our weapons are gone!" (hits a console) "Perhaps today '''is' a good day to die! Prepare for ramming speed!" : - '''Helm officer' and Worf, on the Defiant "You do remember how to fire phasers...?" : - Riker, to Worf "I don't want to be a statue!" : - Zefram Cochrane, to Riker and La Forge "You told him about the statue?" : - Riker, to La Forge "I gotta take a leak." "Leak? I'm not detecting any leak." "Don't people from the 24th century ever pee?" "Oh. Right." :- Zefram Cochrane and La Forge "Resistance is futile" : - Data, to the Borg Queen "No money? You mean you don't get paid?" "The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We wish to better ourselves and the rest of humanity." : - Lily and Picard "Maximum setting, if you fired this you would have vaporized me." "It's my first ray gun." : - Picard and Lily "Let's rock'n'roll!!!" : - Zefram Cochrane, seconds before the Phoenix launches "You'd better find a way to make it easy, soldier, or I'm going to start ''PUSHING BUTTONS!!!" : - '''Lily' "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." "Twenty Borg are about to break through that door. We need time to get out of here. Create a diversion!" "This isn't part of my programming. I'm a doctor, not a doorstop." "Well, do a dance, tell a story, do anything – just give us a few seconds!" : - Emergency Medical Hologram and Dr. Crusher Background Information Trivia * Paramount Pictures approached producer Rick Berman in to ready the next installment in the Star Trek franchise. Berman had a story involving time travel in mind, while Star Trek Generations writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga wanted to write a film about the Borg. They immediately decided upon a mix of the two. * An early story, titled "Star Trek: Renaissance", involved the Borg travelling back to the time of the Renaissance. There the crew of the Enterprise-E would have found a Borg hive hidden in a castle basement and Data would have become an apprentice to Leonardo da Vinci. The idea, however, was nixed when Patrick Stewart told the producers there was no way he was wearing tights. Additionally, the time period was seen as very expensive to realize on screen, and the audience knowledge of and identification with the period was very low. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6952/ron35.txt * The next concept more closely resembled the finished film, but featured prominent differences, most significantly featuring Riker fighting the Borg aboard the Enterprise while Picard remained on the surface to rally the residents of a small town around rebuilding and launching the warp ship. In the script, Zefram Cochrane was killed early on by the Borg. * It was Patrick Stewart who suggested Riker and Picard swap positions within the story, shifting the focus of the movie to the action aboard the Enterprise. * With that shift, a love story between Picard and a photographer named Ruby would be almost entirely deleted from the script, replaced with the character Lily - a much less romantic interest. * Working titles for the film included Star Trek Destinies, Star Trek Generations II, Star Trek: Future Generations, Star Trek Regenerations, Star Trek: Borg and Star Trek: Resurrection. "Resurrection" however, was dropped when Fox announced it as the title for the fourth installment in the Alien series. Star Trek: Borg went on to become the title of a video game, released not long before First Contact. * Early drafts of the script were vague regarding the fate of the Defiant. Having read the script, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Ira Steven Behr objected to its apparent destruction, prompting the writers to add the clarification "adrift but salvageable". * Moore and Braga had intended to stay true to the original concept of the Borg hive, until a Paramount exec noted that they were simply zombies. Thus, the Queen was created, intended to heighten the drama with a character that could actually have dialogue and emotion. * As a finishing touch to Brannon Braga's "Star Trek nativity" concept, "three wise Vulcans" appeared in the movie's finale. * The only reference the art department had regarding the appearance of the new Enterprise-E came from the script which stated that the ship "comes sleekly out of the nebula". * ILM built the 10-foot Enterprise-E model in about half the time normally required for such a complex miniature. * Inside the shooting model windows, the art department placed tiny pictures of rooms and people. * Early in preproduction, the Borg cube was to be a rectangular-shaped vessel; other shapes were toyed with, including that of an obelisk, before the producers opted to go with the classic cube shape. * The surface of the Borg cube model, built at ILM, was detailed with hundreds (if not thousands) of paper clips. * The ill-fated Ensign Lynch was named after Internet critic Timothy W. Lynch, who reviewed every episode of TNG and DS9. * Assimilated early in the film, Lieutenant Paul Porter can be seen in the background of many scenes in engineering, partially assimilated. He even screams during the death of the Borg Queen. * Gravett Island was named after Jacques Gravett, Brannon Braga's assistant. * Rumors have circulated that Lt. Hawk was intended to be Star Trek's first homosexual character; however, this has never been substantiated. In a story in the Star Trek: Section 31 novel series, his character did have a homosexual partner. * Several new classes of ships were introduced for the battle with the Borg, one being the ''Norway''-class starship which was later lost due to a computer glitch and subsequently never seen on Star Trek again. Other new ship classes included the ''Akira''-class, ''Saber''-class and ''Steamrunner''-class vessels. The ships were designed and rendered by Alex Jaeger. * Also seen in the background of the battle sequence is a ''Nebula''-class starship, an ''Oberth''-class science ship, and a ''Miranda''-class vessel. * A CGI model of the Millennium Falcon (created for the Star Wars special editions) was inserted into the Borg attack on Earth by John Knoll, an ILM visual effects manager. The ship is, however, indistinguishable. * Footage from the launch of the Phoenix was reused in the opening titles of the TV series Enterprise. * Footage of the Vulcan landing would also be reused in ENT, during the opening scenes of the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly". * This is the first time multi-species members of the Borg Collective can be seen including several Klingons, Cardassians and Bajorans. * The final scene shot was the first scene in the movie, the flashback featuring Picard during his assimilation. Fittingly, the scene required Patrick Stewart to wear the uniform he had worn throughout most of TNG. * The AE-35 unit is a reference to 2001: A space Odyssey. In the Arthur C. Clarke book, Frank Poole is killed while trying to remove a defective AE-35 unit by HAL, an artificial intelligence computer. In the movie, Frank Poole was played by Gary Lockwood (Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell). Cast trivia *It is widely believed that Kelsey Grammer has an uncredited cameo as Captain Morgan Bateson as captain of the [[USS Bozeman|U.S.S. Bozeman]] during the Starfleet com-chatter scene, uttering the single word, "acknowledged" to Starfleet's order that his ship and the Defiant fall back to mobile position one. *Michael Zaslow ( ), best known as the first person to be pronounced "He's dead, Jim", appears as Eddy, a bartender in Bozeman. * Jack Shearer would later reprise his role of Admiral Hayes in VOY: "Hope and Fear" and "Life Line", apparently not killed when his ship was destroyed. * Although Ethan Phillips portrays the maitre'd in this film, he specifically requested to not be credited. His thoughts behind this were that it would be funny to confuse fans who recognized him from playing Neelix but were unable to confirm his identity. * Another VOY actor, Robert Picardo, appears as the EMH. The scene, added late in preproduction, apparently upset Gates McFadden, who felt that Dr. Crusher shouldn't have to share screen time with another series' character. * Robert Picardo (the Doctor), Ethan Phillips (the holographic maitre'd), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Reginald Barclay) and Alice Krige (the Borg Queen) later all appeared together in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale "Endgame". * Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Robert Picardo (the Doctor), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Barclay) and Jack Shearer (Admiral Hayes) would all later appear in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Life Line" together. * Don Stark (Nicky the Nose) had earlier appeared as Ashrock in the DS9 episode "Melora". * Tom Hanks was rumored to have been up for the role of Zefram Cochrane. While he may have been considered by the producers for the part, it seems unlikely that the limited budget of First Contact would have permitted the casting of such a big name. In any case, the rumor has never been substantiated. * Brannon Braga appears in holodeck scene, sitting on the right side of the screen as the Borg enter the nightclub. * This was the last appearance of Patti Yasutake as Nurse Lt. Alyssa Ogawa. * A starfleet Lt, tells Commander Worf they control decks 26 through 11. However, Picard tells Lily that the ship has 24 decks. This is substantiated by all references to the stats of the USS Enterprise E. References to other series, movies and media *The reference that Data makes about using his "fully functional organs" times coincidently with the time he used them with Tasha in , eight years before the Borg invasion. *''First Contact'' references and even explicitly quotes Moby Dick. Despite the story parallels, the producers hesitated using it, as was also heavy in Moby Dick references. Two years after First Contact premiered, Patrick Stewart played Captain Ahab in a 1998 TV mini-series. * Early in the movie, Zefram Cochrane points out the constellation Leo, the constellation in which Wolf 359 is located. * First Contact marked the first time the words "Star Trek" were ever uttered in the franchise. In the TNG finale , however, Q tells Picard "It's time to put an end to your ''trek through the stars." * The program menu in the holosuite depicts various holodeck programs from previous episodes. Specifically: Café des Artistes ( ), Charnock's Comedy Cabaret ( ), "The Big Goodbye" ( ), Emerald Wading Pool ( ) and the "Equestrian Adventure" ( ). * During the end of the Dominion War, Quark would speak, in , the same words ("''The line must be drawn here! This far and no further!") as Picard does during Star Trek: First Contact. * Riker calls the Defiant a "tough little ship." In the DS9 episode , Thomas Riker called it the same thing. * According to the (apocryphal) Customizable Card Game by Decipher, the Vulcan who greeted Zefram Cochrane was named Solkar, the grandfather of Sarek and the great-grandfather of Spock. This was later confirmed in . * The events of Star Trek: First Contact were later referred to in , , and . The Borg sphere was recovered in , while a slightly different version of Earth's first contact with Vulcans can be seen in . * According to the ENT episode , though this movie records the first official contact between Earth and Vulcan, contact was actually made in 1957 in a place called Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania, nearly 110 years prior. * Subsequent Vulcan starships seen in Star Trek: Enterprise would be based upon the ''T'Plana-Hath''-type lander seen in this movie. * The partial flesh in Data's face resembles the mask of the Phantom of the Opera. * The CGI version of the Star Wars spaceship , as developed for the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, can be seen in the battle with the Borg cube. * The Borg Queen's skull resembles the skull of the endoskeleton in The Terminator. When Picard breaks the spine the red lights die off just like the eye of the Terminator. Sets and props * New sets for the Enterprise-E would be constructed for First Contact, including a three-story engine room and more corridor sets than seen on any other Star Trek ship. * Sickbay was a redress of the ''Voyager'' sickbay while the observation lounge was a redress of the ''Enterprise''-D set of the same use, dating back to the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. * Voyager's cargo bay set can be seen as the crew prepares for battle with the Borg. * When releasing the deflector, each of the computer panels that Picard, Worf and Hawk use to enter the sequence have the phrase "AE35" on them. This is a subtle reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, AE35 being the communications link that the on-board computer HAL9000 disables. * The statue of Cochrane mentioned in this film would be seen as a miniature version in Captain Archer's quarters on Star Trek: Enterprise. * For the first time in the Star Trek film series, the transporter room does not appear. The Enterprise-E's transporter room did appear in the next film, but failed to reappear in Star Trek Nemesis. * The silo set used for Cochrane's ship was a decommissioned Titan II missile silo outside the town of Green Valley, AZ. The silo is now a museum operated by the Pima Aerospace Association. Promotion * The teaser for the film used score from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and various shots from other Trek movies and episodes. All effect shots (ships, space battles, pyro, weapons fire, etc) were recycled episode and film footage since the teaser needed to be cut prior to the completion of the film's effects to launch the publicity on schedule. This is why the ''Enterprise''-E is not seen until the full trailer. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ac2qaeTOmlc * There is only one clip in the teaser that did not feature in any TV episode or movie. That was of the [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]] firing multiple phaser blasts from its saucer array, at an early TNG version of a Borg Cube. The clip is seen near the end of the trailer and is backdropped against an orange nebula. * The theatrical trailer utilized bits of score from the crash sequence in Star Trek Generations. The trailer also featured various shots not included in the film such as an alternate take of Picard saying, "The line must be drawn here!" Merchandising *Playmates Toys released a line of action figures and accessories in conjunction with the premiere of the film. Among the toys was a model of the Enterprise-E, apparently based upon early sketches of the ship and not the finalized version. It features several key structural differences from the "real" starship. Costumes *Costume designer Bob Blackman created all new Starfleet uniforms for First Contact to go with the darker palette of the film. The costumes would eventually make their way into use in the final three seasons of DS9 and would appear in several episodes of Voyager. * Admiral Hayes' uniform, however, was a modification of an existing admiral's uniform variant. * Because of his heavy workload, creating costumes for DS9 and VOY, Blackman only designed Starfleet costumes, while Deborah Everton designed the rest, including all the Borg and civilian costumes. She went on to design the costumes for Ron D. Moore's "reinvention" of Battlestar Galactica in 2003. * The original costume for the Borg Queen was created out of hard rubber and was very uncomfortable for Alice Krige. A new suit was created overnight, following her first day of shooting, that was made out of soft foam. Music :See also: Star Trek: First Contact (Soundtrack) *Jerry Goldsmith, who composed the music for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, returned to score First Contact and the remaining two TNG films. * Because of his hectic schedule, Goldsmith shared much of the work with his son, Joel Goldsmith. It was because of this that much of the music in First Contact does not appear on the commercial soundtrack. * A theme established in The Final Frontier, often referred to as the "A Busy Man" theme, is used throughout First Contact, likely as a theme for Picard. It can be heard just after the opening fanfare at the beginning of the film. It can also be heard only briefly in Insurrection, but is used quite heavily in Nemesis. *The "Klingon Theme", originally introduced in The Motion Picture, is used in this film to represent Worf and is also heard in Insurrection. * The opera that Picard is listening to is Berlioz' Les Troyens - "Hylas' Song" from the beginning of Act V. (Hylas is a homesick young sailor being rocked to sleep by the sea as he dreams of the homeland he will never see again.) * This is the first and only Star Trek movie to have rock and roll in the soundtrack (though did feature some interesting late 80s jazz by the Yellowjackets, as well as a punk song.) Also, the rock group Hiroshima did compose some music for The Final Frontier, however it was heard as "sung" by Uhura and is therefore not considered source music. Reviews and opinions *''First Contact'' is considered by many fans to be the best of the TNG movies and was the second highest grossing Star Trek movie, second only to . * It is one of only two Star Trek movies to be given a rating of PG-13 by the MPAA, the other being Star Trek Nemesis. * The producers tried to get the kiss between Data and the Borg Queen nominated for the MTV Movie Awards "Best Kiss", but were unsuccessful. * Make up designer Michael Westmore was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on First Contact, though he unfortunately lost to Rick Baker's work on The Nutty Professor. * First Contact would be the last Star Trek movie to be given "Two Thumbs Up" by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel who stated that, because of this film, Star Trek was "cool again". Box office performance *''First Contact'' premiered on , number one at the box office. With a budget of around $45,000,000 (US), it opened on 2,812 screens and went on to garner around $150,000,000 worldwide. By comparison, Generations, with a budget of $35,000,000, opened at $23,100,000 and grossed $120,000,000 worldwide. Links and References Cast *Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus of Borg *Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker *Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data *LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf *Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi *Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher *Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane *James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane *Alice Krige as The Borg Queen Starfleet Personnel *Michael Horton as Daniels (as Security Officer) *Neal McDonough as Lt. Hawk *Marnie McPhail as Eiger *Robert Picardo as Holographic Doctor *Dwight Schultz as Lt. Barclay *Adam Scott as Defiant Conn Officer *Jack Shearer as Admiral Hayes *Eric Steinberg as Porter *Scott Strozier as Security Officer *Patti Yasutake as Nurse Ogawa *Victor Bevine as Guard #1 *David Cowgill as Guard #2 *Scott Haven as Guard #3 *Annette Helde as Guard #4 *Majel Barrett as the computer voice *Cameron as Ensign Kellogg (uncredited) * Michael Braveheart as Martinez (uncredited) Nightclub *C.J. Bau as Bartender *Hillary Hayes as Ruby *Julie Morgan as Singer in Nightclub *Ronald R. Rondell as Henchman *Don Stark as Nicky the Nose *Ethan Phillips as Maitre d' (uncredited) *Ray Uhler as Dancer (uncredited) *Mike Boss as Nightclub Patron (uncredited) *Brannon Braga as Nightclub Patron (uncredited) *Ronald D. Moore as Nightclub Patron (uncredited) Missile Complex *Cully Fredricksen as Vulcan Captain *Tamara Lee Krinsky as Townsperson *Michael Zaslow as Eddy (uncredited) Borg *Don Fischer *J.R. Horsting *Heinrich James *Andrew Palmer *Jon David Weigand *Dan Woren *Robert L. Zachar *Jeff Coopwood as Borg voice (uncredited) Stunts *Chic Daniel *Mark De Alessandro *Andy Epper *Gary Epper *Jimmy Nickerson *Monte Rex Perlin References Ahab; ''Akira''-class; antiproton; ''Appalachia'', USS; assimilation; atomic weapon; authorization code; auto-destruct; Battle of Sector 001; Berlioz, Louis Hector; "Big Good-Bye, The"; Bizet, Georges; Borg; Borg cube; Borg drone; Borg sphere; Borg Queen; ''Bozeman'', USS; ''Budapest'', USS; chronometric particle; Deep Space 5; ''Defiant'', USS; deflector control; deflector dish; Dixon Hill; Dyson; Earth; ECON; Emergency Medical Hologram; emotion chip; ''Endeavour'', USS; ''Enterprise''-E, USS; escape pod; First Contact; fractal encryption lockout; Gravett Island; holodeck; holodeck safety protocol; hydroponics; interplexing beacon; Ivor Prime; Kaplan (Enterprise-E); kilopascal; Lake Armstrong; ''Lexington'', USS; Luna; Lynch; ''Madison'', USS; "Magic Carpet Ride"; main engineering; maglock; mek'leth; ''Miranda''-class; Moby Dick; Montana; "Moonlight Becomes You"; ''Nebula''-class; neuroprocessor; New Berlin; ''Norway''-class; ''Oberth''-class; "Ooby Dooby"; opera; ocular implant; Orbison, Roy; phaser rifle; Phoenix; plasma coolant; quantum torpedo; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulan Star Empire; ''Saber''-class; sickbay; Smithsonian Institution; ''Sovereign''-class; Starfleet Academy; ''Steamrunner''-class; stellar cartography; Steppenwolf; T'plana-Hath; tequila; temporal vortex; theta radiation; throttle assembly; ''Thunderchild'', USS; Titan V; tricorder; Tycho City; Typhon sector; vice admiral; Vulcan; warp drive; whiskey; World War III; ''Yeager'', USS; Zefram Cochrane High School; zero-gravity combat training Media * Star Trek: First Contact (Special Edition) * ''Star Trek: First Contact'' (Soundtrack) External Links * * First Contact de:Star Trek: Der erste Kontakt es:Star Trek VIII: First Contact fr:Star Trek: First Contact nl:Star Trek: First Contact pl:Star Trek VIII: First Contact sv:Star Trek: First Contact